This blog is about the little things that make me smile, fill up my world, and bring me happiness (or headaches). It is about Life, Love and the Lessons I'm learning. It is my way of spreading a little bit of Lovelyness. Welcome to my world!

I have lived in New Zealand since October 2011, with my husband Simon (Mr Fix It) and our 2 delicious & delightful (only occasionally frightful) daughters, Arabella Wednesday and Lucy Tuesday. We are trying to raise our girls to be kind, lovely, thoughtful, inquisitive young ladies, with a passion for learning, an appreciation of beauty, a resourceful nature and some understanding of the world.

As much as I like to sometimes think my life is my own to do as I please, make my own decisions and follow through on my plans, that is so very often not the case with these two little leading ladies. Being a parent is definitely the biggest blessing and the greatest joy, but as much as I may want to enjoy the whole ride, occasionally the wheels do fall off the wagon (As you can read about here...) Nevertheless, for the most part they are absolute treasures and are teaching me some of the greatest lessons. As they will feature throughout most of the baking, crafting, kids and general life sections of the blog, I wanted to introduce them. My leading man Mr Fix It will no doubt also feature regularly (if only to solve my occasional technical dilemmas, help me bring my projects to life and keep me grounded as a parent), so I thought you should meet him too.

Arabella, aged 6, and Lucy, aged 4

I have always enjoyed having a blank page... Having the opportunity to explore and create something new has been the story of my life, collecting wonderful memories along the way and a handful of lovely people who I carry with me in my heart wherever we go. Looking back I can define my life as a series of different chapters in numerous locations around the world that have all come together to bring me to where I am now. Steve Jobs was onto something when he said: "You can't connect the dots looking forward: you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

I'm a home loving kind of girl, so wherever we have found ourselves in the world I have always had a knack for transforming any house into a home for us. This was a skill I picked up at a very young age where I learned to be resourceful with whatever I could find, repurposing and upcycling things from the unlikeliest of places. We have a lot of furniture that we've made or transformed over the years and artwork, books and other treasures we've collected that quickly make any place we find ourselves in feel like home.

I come from a large family of wonderfully creative, home loving women who enjoy entertaining, so it was only natural I follow suit. I simply love having our friends around the dinner table or a room full of our nearest and dearest. I'm also just like many other lovely Mummies out there that I know... I craft, create, make and bake, cook, clean, do the laundry, provide Mum's taxi service, work part time, still believe that anything is possible and try to retain my sanity with as much patience, gratitude, grace and dignity as I can muster on a daily basis... Some days are more successful than others as you can see here! I don't profess to be utterly lovely, but it is a daily pursuit that I am on and it is in that pursuit that I find happiness. And as my daughters tell me "Don't worry Mummy, you're trying your very best!" This blog is a place to bring all of my passions I have and lessons I'm learning together to share with like-minded women on a similar path.

This is my journey of discovering simple things to smile about on a daily basis and my quest for leading a life that is full of love, joy, beauty, colour and meaning. I hope I can make you smile, make you think, inspire you to get creative and encourage you to open your eyes and take in the beauty all around you. Feel free to comment, get in touch, send me tips and spread the Lovelyness. Thank you so much for joining me.